


Another Day at the Quarry

by Melethril



Series: The Walking Dead - AU [1]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Brother dynamics, Gen, Jacqui deserved a better fate, Merle Dixon Being an Asshole, Merle Dixon Lives, Re-upload, Warning for racism, alternative universe, warning for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:14:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24287959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melethril/pseuds/Melethril
Summary: Merle busted his leg before the Dixon brothers joined the Atlanta group. Daryl joined the group that left for Atlanta.
Relationships: Daryl Dixon & Merle Dixon
Series: The Walking Dead - AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1753324
Comments: 6
Kudos: 63





	Another Day at the Quarry

**Author's Note:**

> Watched some TWD today, realized that I no longer had this AU idea online, decided to re-upload.

In their short-wired escape car with the weapon bag tugged against his body, Rick felt like he could breathe for the first time since the walkers attacked him upon his ill-advised entrance on horseback into Atlanta. They had all gotten out thanks to Glenn’s resourcefulness and Dixon’s outstanding skill with silent weapons and the ability to keep his cool even as he was leading walkers in the opposite direction so that everybody else got out. How Daryl managed to switch from the car he had used as a distraction to the car he was in at the moment was a mystery. He had managed, though. Their drive back to the rest of the survivors was quiet until Rick asked whom he would meet at the quarry.

Apparently there were around twenty-five people waiting for them including Morales’ family, Andrea’s sister, and Daryl Dixon’s brother Merle. That almost caused Rick to groan. It did not matter how skillful Dixon had proven to be and that he had likely helped them getting out of Atlanta in one, unbitten piece; he was brash, loud, impatient, short-tempered, which in turn usually meant that he had a violent streak, though so far, he had shown that side of him against walkers only. Still, Rick did not need another troublemaker in the group. Rick also noticed that T-Dog (Theodore Douglas, apparently), Jacqui and Glenn did not appear to have anyone, and he was mindful not to ask. The same could not be said for the redneck.

“You ‘lone?” asked the man, his head slightly bowed, eyes darting around but resting occasionally on Glenn, Jacqui and T-Dog.

Glenn lowered his gaze mumbling something about his parents living in Michigan, not knowing what happened to them and being an only child. T-Dog and his family were from Atlanta, but his parents had been visiting his sister in Louisiana during the outbreak; he was not married either. Jacqui’s lips quivered, but her eyes were dry while she calmly looked at Dixon.

“We didn’t know what was going on at the time,” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the engine noise. “Our neighbor just attacked us all of a sudden; we called the police and they took him in. There were too many patients in the hospital so we just picked up some supplies for wound treatment and I patched up my husband… I have done many first aid courses so I thought.... The fever hit quickly. The EMTs said he was dead, but drove him to the hospital regardless. He turned on the way and bit one of the EMTs. I looked into his eyes and I saw… he was no longer there, so I ran. I ended up at the quarry.”

Dixon did not look at her as he muttered his condolences.

“Ya wanna be with him?” he asked after a moment of silence.

“What the fuck, man?” T-Dog shouted furiously and rose from his seat. Dixon tensed reminding Rick of a feral cat ready to defend itself against a bear.

“Just sayin’. Hope ya didn’t volunteer to die. Otherwise you’ll get others killed.”

“I volunteered because I wanted to contribute,” Jacqui replied calmly, her eyes cold. “I have no wish to be eaten or become one of these creatures.”

Dixon nodded, “Good. ‘d be a shame.”

T-Dog snorted, “Sure. As if you’d care, you racist son of a bitch.”

Just before Dixon could hurl himself at the other man, Rick interfered ordering them to calm the hell down. Dixon recoiled but his eyes glinted dangerously.

“One more of us means one less’a them,” Dixon hissed. “Don’t care who they are.”

There was a moment of silence before he told Morales to stop the car.

Morales stopped and Andrea asked exasperately, “What is it now?”

“Shut up,” replied Dixon. He opened the door, but Rick blocked the exit.

“Ya got something to say to me, Officer?”

“Where do you think you’re goin’?”

“Deer,” was Dixon’s reply, gesturing at the forest in front of them. “If I ain’t back in half an hour, drive on. I’ll find the camp.”

“How?” asked Glenn.

“We are less than a mile from it; ain’t fuckin’ rocket science.” With that he stepped out, and quietly slipped into the forest.

“Shit!” exclaimed Rick. This guy was out of control.

“Hey, not saying ‘no’ to some venison,” said T-Dog. “It’s how the Dixon brothers came to the group in the first place. Dragged that beauty of a deer to camp, asked to stay the night because Merle Dixon’s ankle was in bad shape. You think this Dixon’s bad? At least he doesn’t talk much. The other one is like a racist, sexist jukebox that never shuts up.”

“Wonderful,” sighed Rick. They waited for half an hour, but Dixon did not return.

Despite protests (“We can’t show up at the quarry without Daryl. Merle will kill us.”), they ultimately decided to leave for camp.

* * *

His reunion with his family (“ _Thank God! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Alive and well, Shane, thank you!”_ ) was cut short by a gravely, rough voice.

“Awww, so sweet! Who’s this? And where’s my brother?” asked a burly man that strongly reminded Rick of that bulldog they had been forced to shoot so it would not eviscerate the dogcatcher they had called for help. In his arms was a weapon and Rick just knew that this would not end well despite the man having his foot thickly bandaged.

“Name’s Rick Grimes and your brother’s just fine,” said Rick quickly. “He saw some deer outside of camp and decided to go after it.”

A thoughtful hum escaped Merle’s lips, which were curled to a cruel, pitiless smile. “If my brother ain’t back till dawn, you’ll wish you’d joined him, asshole.”

The next hours were tense, but Rick used that time to speak of his initial impressions, how he had woken up and how he had joined the group. He refused to let go of Carl and Lori holding them as close as he could. Everybody else was listening except for Merle Dixon who gave a running commentary throughout the whole narrative. Apart from the Dixon brothers, the only problem that Rick saw was Ed Peletier, a cruel son of a bitch who harassed both his wife and girl. He was deathly afraid of Dixon though, and all that needed to be exchanged was a swift, warning look, for Peletier to leave his wife alone. Dale Horvath was intelligent, calm and attentive; Rick took a liking to him immediately. He was the one who brought up Daryl’s involvment in Atlanta.

Upon hearing what his younger brother had done, Merle simply scoffed _(“That’s why I should’a come. Darlena’s always been a softie.”)_

They could finally relax once Daryl arrived, a deer packed around his shoulder and multiple squirrels on a string. He threw a bottle of water and what seemed like painkillers at Merle, who caught the items effortlessly, and then began to cut apart his prey. When a few people started to mutter excitedly about eating deer tonight, the hunter shook his head.

“Squirrel is for tonight; gonna dry the deer. We’ll need rations ‘cause we can’t stay here.”

“What did you see, lil’ brother?” asked Merle, eyes narrowed.

“Not enough prey out here, too many walkers; I shot the only deer nearby; walkers take ‘em and the folks around here have no idea ‘bout how much to take till nothing comes back. Too many damn people, not’nough food. Can’t go out huntin’ more deer, ‘less ya want this area completely dead in one month tops.”

The entire camp was silent, not used to Daryl saying more than a sentence. When Merle said nothing to ridicule his brother’s judgment, they knew that this was a serious, valid concern. The group discussed how to go on; Fort Benning seemed like the best option, though the Dixon brothers did not seem to be particularly happy with the decision. The Morales’ would leave the group and meet up with the rest of their family elsewhere. They would remain in the for another day so that Daryl could prepare the dried meat. To Rick’s surprise, Daryl involved Jacqui as he removed the deer’s coat, gutted it and started cutting the meat into strips and hanging them up. He instructed Jacqui how to take care of the squirrels by telling her to wash her knife, dip the blade in some cheap booze and to flame it before showing her the next steps.

“Hey, baby brother, why’re you showing her how to gut squirrel? Lookin’ for a housekeeper?” Rick gritted his teeth at Merle’s comment.

Daryl did not respond, continued to observe her and nodded once he saw that Jacqui could do by herself.

“Darlena, I’m talking to you,” sing-songed Merle.

“’Cause she’s from the city, needs to learn how to live out here and she ain’t no bitch,” was the gruff response. Jacqui giggled at that, and Rick did not take offense in her stead as she seemed to be rather unbothered by Daryl’s comment. Andrea looked annoyed but said nothing.

“Awww, Darlena, didn’t know you liked chocolate….”

Before anyone could do anything T-Dog was on Merle, but despite a busted leg, the obviously fight-experienced redneck quickly overpowered the younger man who fell hard on his back. Rick who had tried to interfere was thrown back; Merle was like a bulldozer. Shane was the one to draw his weapon and put it to Merle’s head. A second later, an arrow was trained on Shane’s head.

“Step away from my brother, asshole,” whispered Daryl, hands steady. Merle spit on the ground next to T-Dog and rose as soon as Shane lowered his weapon.

There was a wild smile on Merle’s face; obviously the only person who thought this was one giant joke. Rick regarded both brothers; Merle was out of control and as dangerous as a charging bull, but despite putting his brother down at every turn of phrase, it was obvious that the older man completely relied on his brother; Merle would start the fights, commonly win them too, but these two were absolutely deadly together. A brief, silent exchange with Shane made it clear that his partner had recognized that too.

“Darlena,” whined Merle, continuing his conversation from before as if nothing happened, but the brother immediately shut him down.

“They took her husband, you prick. Shouldn’t be ‘lone with nothin’ to do,” with that, he uncocked his crossbow and returned to cutting strips ignoring the frightened sobs from Sophia and Morales’ children. Carl was hugging Lori, looking frightened.

Merle’s demeanour changed at that as he regarded Jacqui, “Sorry to hear ‘bout your husband, Ma’am.” This was the first time in Rick’s presence that the man had used a somewhat formal address towards a woman, or another human being for that matter.

Jacqui regarded him with eyes full of tears. “Don’t be,” said she coldly, with dignity that amazed the former Sheriff’s deputy. “In your eyes, he was nobody.”

“Ain’t changin’ the fact he was someone in your eyes,” was the cool reply. “All’n the same boat now, ain’t we?”

This was so close to Daryl’s comment earlier that Rick could only marvel at the silent conversation that had likely taken place between the brothers.

People settled down afterwards; Dale took care of T-Dog’s injuries causing Merle to grin at them ferally; Darly cut apart the deer; Jacqui prepared the squirrel, barely ever making a face except for that time she accidentaly opened the guts. Daryl worldlessly showed her how to clean up the mess while still using the meat without risking the contraction of parasites.

“Never thought I’d crave a Subway sandwich,” said Jacqui as she gave the squirrel carcasses to Carol and Lori. Amy and Mrs Morales helped by preparing the rest of the food. Meanwhile, the men and Andrea discussed the plans for the next day.

“Fort Benning it is,” said Shane, happy to have his preferences heard. “We’ll stay here tomorrow to distribute supplies, perhaps scavange some more food, fish for example, and then we leave the day after. We should cook some fresh water, so we have enough for those 125 miles ‘til Fort Benning. Everybody okay with this?”

“Is a military base really the best option?” sneered Merle. “The last soldier my brother and I came across was more of the dead variety if ya catch ma drift.”

“What? Afraid they’d shoot you on sight?” replied Shane coldly. Rick shook his head warningly, but it was too late and Merle gladly took the bait.

“’ll be sure to walk in yer shadow, chief,” he grinned. “By the way, where’s your little one?”

A scream tore through the following silence and everybody ran a second later.

“Carl?!”

Relief shot through Rick when they saw Sophia and Carl run into their arms.

They cut the head off the walker, only to be ridiculed by Merle who mocked them for needing five “pansy ass pussies” against one little walker. Apart from the mockery, he gave a nice piece of advice, though by saying that they needed to destroy the brain for the walker’s death to be permanent. Daryl had not moved a muscle, still preparing the deer when they returned.

“Thanks for the backup,” said Shane sarcastically as he walked past him.

“If one walker gives you that much trouble you’ll die anyway,” was the nonchalant reply, not looking up as he continued to cut away muscle from the deer.

“Ya should’a seen em, baby brother,” said Merle, laughing loudly. “Know nothing, ‘em city folks.”

For the next hour they had to put up with the older Dixon’s ridicule, but they ignored him stoically until finally, he shut up. Once the squirrels were done, they started eating. Jacqui kept some food for Darly who had not joined them yet. As he sat down next to his brother, she handed him the bowl of meat, pasta and some mushrooms they had gathered today. The gesture startled a ‘thank you’ out of the taciturn man. After dinner, they sat by the fire and told some more about themselves and their plans, wondering if it was just bad here or allover the world. A hiss had them turn around.

Daryl was unwrapping his brother’s bandage. The ankle looked awful: swollen, black and blue. It was likely broken and Rick wondered what happened to him. Daryl gave his brother a piece of leather to bite on as he reset the ankle and bandaged the injury with supplies he had gotten in Atlanta. Merle was one tough son of a bitch because he released no more than a painful hiss while his brother firmly reset the bandages.

Rick agreed to take the first watch needing some time to process things. He was not surprised to see that Daryl held watch over his brother who had fallen asleep from pain and exhaustion.


End file.
